Regular season drama between Rams-Seahawks could lead to Sunday thriller

Looking back, we should have known the two regular-season thrillers served up by the Rams and Seahawks were merely the appetizer to their showdown on Sunday in the NFC Championship game.Both games left everyone wanting more, and more is exactly what we’ll get when they square off one more time.This time, with a trip to Super Bowl LX hanging in the balance.The longtime NFC West rivals split the season series, with the Rams surviving the first meeting, 21-19, when Jason Myers’ 61-yard field goal sailed wide at the buzzer. The Seahawks won the rematch, 38-37, on the first overtime walk-off 2-point conversion in league history.The lessons each club learned will be applied to Sunday’s conference championship game, although both teams insist the first two games were so unique to themselves that there is little reason to doubt Sunday won’t take on an entirely different identity as well. That said, both teams took notes from the regular-season series, and so did we.When it comes to the Seahawks quarterback, it’s impossible not to worry that the other shoe is perpetually about to drop.

We simply can’t unsee all of Darnold’s meltdowns and implosions throughout the years.Or how he fumbled away opportunities with the Jets and Panthers in such convincing fashion, he seemed destined to go down as one of the biggest busts in league history.To his credit, Darnold has put some distance between himself and those frightful years in New York and Charlotte.

Thanks to his play in Minnesota and Seattle the last two years, he has completely reinvented himself.That is, when he’s facing any team besides the Rams. Danold can’t escape his ghosts when he takes the field against them.And the Rams know it.Over the last two seasons, Chris Shula’s defense has picked off seven Darnold passes, sacked him 16 times, and won three of the four matchups against him. His cumulative quarterback rating is 34.3 in those games.

Against all the other teams that he’s faced multiple ...